[Pudu]

Does anyone know of any dock that will allow you to bypass the internal DAC and get digital out of a 3rd generation iPod? The ones I've seen don't support models that old.

My wife is talking iPad now but I have been using my 3G for years. I'd like something that would work with either.

 

[NA Blur]

If you already have a system with an Aux in you could just use a LOD and get a 110v to USB adapter.  This would charge your ipod while you play music through your existing system.
 
The TEAC below is known for supporting older ipods.
[size=80%] TEAC SRLX5iB Hi-Fi Table Radio with iPod Dock (Black)[/size]

 

 

[Pudu]

Thanks for the idea.

I have the little dock that charges and has a stereo out jack at the back. But it still uses the iPod's internal DAC. I'd like to basically use the iPod to store music and feed it to an external DAC of my choosing.

I'm thinking it won't happen, however.

 

[NA Blur]

Why are you trying to bypass the DAC?  I think it is a Wolfson chip in there which is actually pretty decent.  I use it as a basic reference comparison to other DAC's all of the time and it remains an excellent baseline DAC.
 
For example the DAC inside the iPod, would probably out perform the UDAC-2.  Paired with the proper amp and speakers / headphones I could make it sound like a much more expensive DAC.  There was an audio presentation done with an iPod for example where they told the audience that the system was a multi-thousand dollar system.  They then asked how expensive the system sounded and the audience was convinced it was very expensive, but in the end it was an iPod fed into a nice amp and through great speakers.  The iPod simply played lossless files.
 
Playing compressed files through any DAC is not going to make your speakers sound any better.  It all starts with the source and then DAC, amp, and finally speakers.

 

[Ridleyguy]

You may want to look at the iMod from Red Wine Audio which uses the Wolfson DAC chip from earlier generations of the iPod Classic.  For the iPad, the camera connection bypasses the internal DAC for USB out to an external DAC.  Hope this is helpful.

 

[Pudu]

NA Blur, you raise excellent points. The DAC is very decent - which is why I have been using it for years.

Really I was just wondering because if I end up getting a nice DAC and then a dock that will take iPad digital out, I just wanted one that would also handle my 3G so I don't have to reconfigure cables every time I change players.

Ridleyguy - I could never justify spending that kind of dough on a 9 year old 20gb iPod.

Cheers for the suggestions guys.



For what it's worth I've read about the audio presentation you mention and for me it's not worth much given the subjective nature of audio assessment and the way they conducted it. I did my own test:

Ipod (mp3 320) -> Lyr - Yes I know this could be Apple lossless but I have Foobar convert to 320 mp3 when adding to iPod. Haven't figured out how to make it work with apple lossless yet.

HM-602 (Flac) -> Lyr

There was a noticeable difference - not huge, but noticeable - I don't chalk it up to the Flac vs mp3 difference. I don't know if the DAC in the HM-602 is 'supposed' to be better or worse than that in the iPod, but I know which sound I liked better.